Befrigerating-compressor



G. F. KNOX. REFRIGERAYTING COMPRESSOR.

APPLICATION FILED OCT- 24. I919- Patented May 10, 1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

Attorney G. F. KNOX.

BEFRIGERATING COMPRESSOR. Arrucmou men OCT- 24, 1919.

1,377,693. Patented May10,1921.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2- G. F. "KNOX.

REFRIGERATl-NG COMPRESSOR.

APFUCATION FILED .UCT- 24 91'9- Patented May10,1921.-

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

inventor flttorneys- "UNITED' STATES PATENT OFFICE.

GEORG E. KNOX, or MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN, ASSIGNOR, BY DIRECT AND MESNE 'j ASSIGNMENTS, To THE UNI ICE MA HINE 00., A CORPORATION OF WISCONSIN.

' 1,377,693. Original application filed-December To all whom it mon come m Be it known that I, GEORGE F. KNoX, a citizen of the United States, and resident of Milwaukee, in the county of Milwaukee and State of Wisconsin, have invented new and I useful ImprovementS'in Refrigerating-Comdifferent suction pressures so that certain rooms maybe, cooled to a low temperature, with the'consequenjt lower back pressure; and the other rooms may be maintaine'd at a higher temperature, with the consequent higher back pressure. p

Another Object of this invention is to provide a compressor of the. class described having an unobstructed annular outlet port permitting the ready escape, of the compressed gases, thereby eliminating superheating at the'port and reducing friction to a mllllmllmi A further object of my" invention is to provide a compressor of the class described having its piston so constructed that the clearance between the piston and the cylinder head, when the piston is at its extreme upward limit of movement,is reduced tosubstantially zero, thus greatly contributing to the efficiency of the machine.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a compressor of the class de-- scribed having a. novel form' of Stuflingbox SOCOIlStI'llCtGd as to insure against leakage about'the piston rod, with the least possible friction, and the positive lubrication of the piston rod.

' 1 With the above and other objects in view,

which will appear as the' description procoeds, my invention resides in the novel construction, combination and arrangement of parts substantially ashereinafter described and more particularly defined by the appended claim, it being understood that such changes in the precise embodiment of I the herein disclosed invention may be made as, come within the scope of the claim,

REFRIGERATING-GOMPRESSOR.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented lVIa'y 10, 1921.

17, 1918, Serial NO. 267,132. Divided and her 24, 1919. 7 Serial N 332,978. e

this application filed Octo- In the accompanying drawings I have lllustrated one complete example of the physical embodiment of my invention con structed according to the best/mode I have so far devised for the practical application of the principles thereof, and in which:

Figure 1 is a view of the machines embodying the invention, parts being broken away, and parts being shown in Section;

i Fig. 2 is a section taken on the line 22 of Fig. 1; l i

,.,Fig. 3is an enlarged detail sectional view of the upper portion of the compressor; and

Fig. 4: is a detail view of the inletvalve, parts being broken away.

In the drawings, the numeral 6 designates the. cylinder of a compressor, 7 thecr'ank case, 8 the drive shaft, and 9 the cylinder head cover. I Y I The cylinder 6 is divided into twoparts by 'a partition 10. The upper pai of the cylinder has thewater jacket compartments 11 and an annular compartment '12, the lower end 13 of the cylinder bore 14 being spaced away from the partition 10. Inlets 15 communicate with the compartment 12 and a pipe of the circulating system may be connected to either one of these inlets, while the other one may be plugged up, two inlets being provided so that the piping may be led off from either side of the machine.

- A piston 16 reciprocates in the bore and at the lower end of its stroke uncoversan annularseries of ports 17 in the cylinder which communicate with an annular conduit 18 and a pipe of another circulating system preferably operating under'a higher back pressure may be connected to either one of the inlets 19 to this conduit while the therewith to either one of which piping of the circulating system may be connected and the other one of'said opening be closed by a suitable plug.

The cylinder is provided with a so-called safety head consisting of a cylindrical member 22 to which valve seat members 23 and 241 are connected, said head being normally held in position by means of a spring 25 interposed between the member 22 and the cover 9. The valve seat member 23 consists of a ported ring secured at its upper edge 1n a recess 26 of the member '22 by screws 27 and normally seated at its lower edge 23" upon a portion of the cylinder adjacent the conduit 20. This member 23 has an upstanding annular rib 28. The valve seat member 24 consists of a disk having a cen-' tral stem 29 disposed in a bore 30 in themember 22 and clamped thereto by a nut 31, said disk also having an upstanding annular rib 32 andan inclined periphery 33. The ring member 23 is spaced from the member 24' to form an annular outlet port 34 andthe concentric ribs 28 and 32 form a seat for a flat ring valve 35 which is held 'to'its seat by a spring 36 interposed between said valve and the member 22. Under ordinary conditions when the refrigerant gas is compressed to a certain pressure within the cylinder, the valve 35'is raised to permit passage of the compressed refrigerant-through the port 34, conduit 20 to the circulating pipe, but if for any reason the pressure in the compressor should become excessive it will act uponthe member 23 which being connected with the members 24 and 22 will act to raise said members against the action of the spring 25 and thus establish communication between the cylinder and the ilischarge conduit.

By this structure the outlet port 34 is an unobstructed annular opening which permits theready and easy escape of the compressed gases. This structure has a decided advance over the existing structures, which employ a plurality of openings having more or less sharp edges, in that the friction caused by the compressed gases rushing through the outlet port is reduced to a minimum and, the consequent super-heating of the existing structure at the outlet ports is eliminated. I

The'piston 16 has an opening 36 in its top and a spider 37 providing passages 38. A piston rod 39 is removably secured to the central portion of the spider by a nut 40 so that the piston may be removed without removing the rod and a piston head member 41 is mounted in the opening 36 and removably secured to the piston and rodby means of a nut 41' engaging the rod 39 and seated in a central recess 42 in said head. The head is disposed below the top of the piston which has a flared upper end 43. The head is provided with upstanding concentric curved. annular ribs 44 and an annular port opening 45 therebetween, they being connected together by a series of spaced apart curved web members 46 connecting the porn tions of the head to each side of the open ing 45.

A flatannular disk valve 47 is seated on the ribs 44 and is provided with a plurality of stems 48 projectingthrough the port 45.

To cushion the action of the valve 47 and also to act as a stop to limit the opening of the valve, springs 49 are mounted on the stems 48lbetween washers 50, on the stems and abutting the peripheries .of the port 45 on the under side, and heads 50 on the lower ends of the stem. This construction insures the perfect seating of the disk 47 on the ribs 44 at all times, as the disk '47 is capable of rotation with respect 'to its seat by reason of the stems 48 being substantially free, the webs 46 being curved sufficiently to permit the unhindered passage thereby of said stems.

The piston rod 39 reciprocates in astufiing box 51, to be later secure'dto the partition 10 and carries a cross head 52 slidably packing rings 63 and with a lower threaded end 64; The sleeve is provided with an upper threaded cup end 65 engaging the end 64 and aspring 66 is disposed between the lower packing ring 63 and the sleeve 60. The lower end of said sleeve 60 is provided with a bore 67 receiving packing rings 67 and with a threaded portion 68, The cap 61 has a threaded portion engaging the portion 68 and a spring 69 is interposed between the lower packing ring 67 and the cap. 61. Thesprings 66 and 67 permit expansion of the packing rings against which they act. 1 V

. With the construction above described the refrigerant at a low back pressure flows into the compartment 12 and beneath the piston and during the downward movement of the piston this refrigerant lifts the valve 47 and flows into the compression chamber. When. the piston reaches the end of its stroke the refrigerant at higher back pressure flows through the ports 17 and into the compression chamber, thereby raising the pressure of the refrigerant in said chamber. On the upward stroke, the piston shuts ofl'the ports 17, the valve 47 is held down by pressure of'the' refrigerant and when the desired pressure has been obtained the compressed refrigerant overcomes the action of the spring 36 and the valve 35 opens and'the refrigerant is delivered to the conduit 20" from whence it passes to the circulating pipes of the system. As the top of the piston is recessed to correspond with the face of the disk of the member 24 the end 43 of the piston moves up into the annular port '34: so as to diminish the clearance space as much as possible.

From the foregoing description taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it will be at once apparent that I provide a compressor which will perform its functions with the greatest efliciency, and which is, in a sense, a compound machine, performing the work of two machines, in that two rooms, or series of rooms, may be maintained at different temperatures by the same compressor. 7

What I claim as my invention is:

In a refrigerant compressor, the combination of a cylinder, a refrigerant receiving,

compressor communicating with the lower end thereof and connectable with a substantially low pressure refrigerant supply a compression chamber in the upper end of said cylinder, a valve controlled outletleadingfrom said compressionchamber, a piston working in said cylinder, means carried by the piston for conducting the refrigerant from said refrigerant compartment into the compression chamber upon the down stroke of the piston, a port communicating with the interior of the cylinder at a point spaced substantially level with the top of said piston when at its lowermost position, and means connecting said inlet port with a relatively high pressure refrigerant supply, said piston functioning as a valve and controlling the ingress of the high pressure refrigerant into said compression chamber after said chamber has first been filled with the low pressure refrigerant whereby the pressure of said low pressure refrigerant will be increased to that of said high pressure refrigerant.

In testimony whereof, I aflix my signature.

' GEORGE F. KNOX. 

